editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Tom Cole is an editor on NPR's Arts Desk. He develops, edits, produces, and reports on stories about art, culture, and music for NPR's news magazines Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered. Cole has held these responsibilities since February 1990.Prior to his work with the Arts Desk, Cole worked for three and a half years as an associate producer for NPR's daily classical music program Performance Today, and also for Morning Edition, where he coordinated and edited news reports and produced music programming.From April 1979 to July 1986, Cole worked for NPR member station WAMU-FM in Washington, DC. He was the production manager for the daily operation of studios, and also served as a reporter, writing and producing music features that were broadcast locally and nationally. In addition, from October 1985 to November 1986, Cole worked for Voice of America as a producer for VOA Europe.Since 1977, Cole has been the host and producer of a weekly three-hour program ofNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Tom ColeMon, 24 Oct 2016 06:34:50 +0000Tom Colehttp://publicradiotulsa.org
Tom ColeThirty years ago this week, an unknown filmmaker walked into a club in Washington, D.C., with a videotape in his hand. It was one of those nights when anyone could screen their work ... but this was the first public screening of a short documentary that's gone on to become the very definition of a cult classic.Heavy Metal Parking Lot was only 16 and a half minutes long, and the concept was bare-bones: just fans and staff outside the Capital Centre arena in Largo, Md., before a concert by two metal bands, Dokken and Judas Priest, in May of 1986. And yet it went viral before viral was a thing: One fan would make a copy of a video and give it to a friend who would do the same thing, until it spread, literally, around the world."Nobody could have imagined that it would have taken on the life that it has," says Jeff Krulik, one of the two directors. Over the course of 30 years, he and his partner John Heyn watched their little documentary become the subject of websites, a mural, and30 Years Of 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot,' The Classic 'Cult Classic' Filmhttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/30-years-heavy-metal-parking-lot-classic-cult-classic-film
106471 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgSat, 22 Oct 2016 19:51:00 +000030 Years Of 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot,' The Classic 'Cult Classic' FilmTom ColeDerek Gripper was a musician with a problem. He'd been playing classical music since he was 6 years old — violin, then piano and finally guitar. He was poised for an international career as a classical guitarist. But he remembers going to the homeland of one of his favorite composers, Johann Sebastian Bach."It felt kind of strange," he says. "It felt strange to be in Germany playing Bach to them."What could a South African tell Germans about German music? So Gripper decided to write his own music and adapt the music of his birthplace, Capetown.At some point during his search for a musical identity, a friend gave him a CD by the kora master Toumani Diabaté, from Mali in West Africa."I was just blown away," Gripper says. "I didn't know what it was at all. I didn't know what a kora was; I didn't know who he was. I didn't know anything about the music at all. ... It was one of those things that just hit me, you know? That's what I wanted to do — I wanted to play music like that."The koraGuitarist Conjures The Sound Of The Kora From Thousands Of Miles Awayhttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/guitarist-conjures-sound-kora-thousands-miles-away
104552 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgSun, 11 Sep 2016 21:06:00 +0000Guitarist Conjures The Sound Of The Kora From Thousands Of Miles AwayTom ColeJean-Baptiste "Toots" Thielemans, the Belgian-American musician who cut a singular path as a jazz harmonica player, died in his sleep Monday in his hometown of Brussels. He was 94.He began his professional career as a guitar player (and added the ability to whistle a line above it), but inspired by the mid-20th-century innovations of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, he returned to the chromatic harmonica and developed a bebop-influenced technique on it. He performed and recorded widely with his bebop heroes and many other stars of postwar jazz, and his tune "Bluesette" quickly became a jazz standard. His work also graces many film and television scores.Thielemans' first instrument was actually the accordion; he was a child entertainer in the Brussels sidewalk cafe run by his parents. As a teenager, he took up harmonica and guitar, but he still didn't dream of music as a career."Being a musician was not really a profession, so you needed to try to get a diploma," he told MarianToots Thielemans, Jazz Harmonica Baron, Dies At 94http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/toots-thielemans-jazz-harmonica-baron-has-died
103619 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgMon, 22 Aug 2016 23:55:00 +0000Toots Thielemans, Jazz Harmonica Baron, Dies At 94Tom Colehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HJQJzUwRMk Charlie Hunter, it seems, has always loved a good groove — from his early days in the San Francisco Bay area playing with the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy to his work with his own trio (check out "Funky Niblets") and with T.J. Kirk, the three-guitar band that drew its name and inspiration from Thelonious Monk, James Brown and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.These days, Hunter plays a seven-string guitar with frets that arc in each direction from the center of the neck like the spokes of a linear bicycle wheel, wider under the bass strings and narrower at the treble. The instrument and the way he plays it help him to create organ-like sounds, a moving bass line and staccato melody notes — all pretty much simultaneously. You can hear that throughout "No Money, No Honey." Listen carefully to the tune's opening: Hunter is playing the bass line with his thumb and an almost Hendrix-like lead with his fingers at the same time — no overdubs.The guitaristSongs We Love: Charlie Hunter, 'No Money, No Honey' http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/songs-we-love-charlie-hunter-no-money-no-honey
100067 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgWed, 15 Jun 2016 13:51:00 +0000Songs We Love: Charlie Hunter, 'No Money, No Honey' Tom ColeWatching a Terence Davies film is like watching paintings come to life. On the other hand, the filmmaker jokes, "The people who don't like my films say it's about as interesting as paint drying."Still, Davies (pronounced "Davis") has plenty of defenders. More than one critic has called him Britain's greatest living film director, and French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard — who was famously not a fan of British moviemakers — called Davies' 1988 full-length feature breakout, Distant Voices, Still Lives, "magnificent".An Eye For Beautiful MelancholyDavies' fans praise his use of light and shadow, music and silence; and they celebrate the way he digs into the past (especially his own) to tell emotionally-charged stories of families and women.Yet over the course of his 40-year career, Davies has only released six full-length features and one documentary. His latest film is called Sunset Song. It stars Agyness Deyn as a young Scottish woman who must give up her dream of becoming a teacher to helpIn Life And In Film, The Past Is Ever Present For Director Terence Davieshttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/life-and-film-past-ever-present-director-terence-davies
98843 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgFri, 20 May 2016 21:38:00 +0000In Life And In Film, The Past Is Ever Present For Director Terence DaviesTom ColeCopyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: We're going to travel up the California coast now to remember one of the architects of the San Francisco Sound of the '60s.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMEBODY TO LOVE")JEFFERSON AIRPLANE: (Singing) When the truth is found to be lies and all the joy within you dies, don't you want somebody to love?CORNISH: Jefferson Airplane co-founder Paul Kantner died yesterday. The guitarist and singer was 74 years old. He had suffered a heart attack earlier in the week. NPR's Tom Cole has this appreciation.TOM COLE, BYLINE: Paul Kantner played a crucial role in Jefferson Airplane, says Joel Selvin. He's been writing about San Francisco's music and culture for more than 40 years and says, even though the songwriter and rhythm guitarist was often overshadowed by the other members...JOEL SELVIN: He was at the center of it. He was the soul of it. He was the sort of contrarian that kept everything off balance, and being off balance was an importantPaul Kantner, Co-Founder Of Jefferson Airplane, Dies At 74http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/paul-kantner-co-founder-jefferson-airplane-dies-74
92991 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgFri, 29 Jan 2016 21:29:00 +0000Paul Kantner, Co-Founder Of Jefferson Airplane, Dies At 74Tom ColeJazz guitarist John Scofield has had a pretty remarkable career. Without even finishing music school, he found himself on the Carnegie Hall stage playing with jazz legends Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. Then it was on to Miles Davis, his own successful jazz-funk fusion groups, and even greater exposure playing with jam bands. His latest release, Past Present, takes him back to a sound he perfected in the early 1990s — and it's up for two Grammys in 2016.Scofield didn't come from a particularly musical family, nor was there much music happening in the suburban Connecticut town where he grew up. But he is definitely a product of his place and time: the early 1960s."I think music was actually really important to everybody in that generation," he says. "It just was the only thing: If you weren't a high school football player, you were into music. And it was everything to me."Before he started playing jazz, he had to find it in the bucolic suburbs. Fortunately there was a record storeFor John Scofield, Everything Old Is New Again — Even The Hard Partshttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/john-scofield-everything-old-new-again-even-hard-parts
91327 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgSun, 27 Dec 2015 12:57:00 +0000For John Scofield, Everything Old Is New Again — Even The Hard PartsTom Cole"I consider the guitar as this sort of multi-faceted instrument," says Janet Feder, "that can make and do all of these other things."Chime like a bell, or gong, buzz like a locust, or rattle and hum.To make those sounds, Feder attaches beads, alligator clips, split rings and other objects to her strings (listen to her demonstrate at the beginning of this 2012 NPR story and its web extra). It's called "prepared" guitar and Feder plays a nylon-stringed baritone instrument, that's got longer strings and is tuned differently than a standard guitar, giving it a deeper, darker sound.That description might seem at odds with a song titled "Happy Everyday, You." It's a follow-up to "Happy Everyday, Me," which Feder wrote for herself on her birthday. She came up with "Happy Everyday, You" as a musical gift to her listeners - appropriate for the season! (Both appear on the 2015 album, THISCLOSE.)Feder started out playing "folk" guitar as a kid, before becoming an accomplished classical musician Songs We Love: Janet Feder, 'Happy Everyday, You'http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/songs-we-love-janet-feder-happy-everyday-you
90833 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgWed, 16 Dec 2015 14:00:00 +0000Songs We Love: Janet Feder, 'Happy Everyday, You'Tom ColeThe National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, two federal grant-making agencies aimed at investing in American culture, turn 50 on Tuesday. There will be a yearlong celebration commemorating the agencies' history — and future. Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: There was a time in the 1990s when the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities dominated headlines for funding controversial artworks and what were viewed as exclusive educational programs. Well, on this day, the two endowments were signed into law 50 years ago. And nowadays they're absent from wide public discourse. But they're still at work funding programs and trying to convince Congress and the American people of their value. NPR's Tom Cole reports.TOM COLE, BYLINE: Jane Chu, the current head of the National Endowment for the Arts, was 8 when the agency was founded.JANE CHU: (Laughter) That's exactly right. It was founded in 1965, September 29.COLE: She was already playing piano in herCultural Capital: 50 Years Of Investment In U.S. Arts And Humanitieshttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/both-headlines-and-quiet-2-agencies-fuel-american-arts-decades
86732 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgTue, 29 Sep 2015 20:00:00 +0000Cultural Capital: 50 Years Of Investment In U.S. Arts And HumanitiesTom ColeGuitarist and composer John Scofield's 2015 album is called Past Present. And that's what it is: four jazz musicians very much in the moment, looking back at events that informed the music they're playing—and listening back to a sound three of them created some 20 years ago.Scofield's own remarkable musical history goes back even further. He did stints with jazz greats such as Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan, Charles Mingus, Jay McShann and Gary Burton all while he was still in his 20s; before landing a high-profile gig with the Miles Davis band of the early 1980s. Since then, Scofield has explored funk, acid jazz and the music of New Orleans and Ray Charles with his own groups.He'd just come off a tour with his successful Blue Matter fusion band in the late 1980s when he decided he wanted to play more straight-ahead jazz again. He called an old schoolmate from his days at Berklee College of Music, saxophonist Joe Lovano. They put together a quartet with bassist Charlie Haden and drummerSongs We Love: John Scofield, 'Mr. Puffy'http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/songs-we-love-john-scofield-mr-puffy
86437 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgThu, 24 Sep 2015 16:03:00 +0000Songs We Love: John Scofield, 'Mr. Puffy'Tom ColeIt seemed as if he'd go on forever — and B.B. King was working right up until the end. It's what he loved to do: playing music, and fishing. Even late in life, living with diabetes, he spent about half the year on the road. King died Thursday night at home in Las Vegas. He was 89 years old.He was born Riley B. King on a plantation in Itta Bena, Miss. He played on street corners before heading to Memphis, Tenn., where he stayed with his cousin, the great country bluesman Bukka White. His career took off thanks to radio; he got a spot on the radio show of Sonny Boy Williamson II, then landed his own slot on black-run WDIA in Memphis. He needed a handle. At first it was Beale Street Blues Boy. Then Blues Boy King. Finally B.B. King stuck.You can't mention names without talking about his guitar, Lucille. It was actually more than one. The story goes that the first was a $30 acoustic he was playing at a dance in Arkansas when two men got in a fight, kicked over a stove and started a fire.B.B. King, Legendary Blues Guitarist, Dies At 89http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/bb-king-legendary-blues-guitarist-dies-89
79419 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgFri, 15 May 2015 07:47:00 +0000B.B. King, Legendary Blues Guitarist, Dies At 89Tom ColePat Dowell, a freelance film reporter for NPR, died on Sunday. Dowell had been dealing with health issues for some time, but her death came as a surprise. She was 66 years old.Pat was a freelancer for us for close to 30 years. Before that, she was a film critic for a number of publications and first appeared on our air in that capacity in 1974, when she talked to then-All Things Considered host Susan Stamberg about the TV series Rhoda and feminism.Her first piece as a reporter for NPR was on Susan Seidelman's 1987 film Making Mr. Right. And when she made the transition from critic to reporter, she was adamant that that was what she was. She researched every story she did exhaustively. If I had a question during one of our edits, she had the answer — and she could answer at length, going into the most specific details off the top of her head. She knew her stuff, she knew film history and she knew about the art and process of filmmaking.To get a sense of the breadth of her knowledge andRemembering Pat Dowell, Longtime Film Reporter For NPRhttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/remembering-pat-dowell-longtime-film-reporter-npr
78138 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgTue, 21 Apr 2015 22:52:00 +0000Remembering Pat Dowell, Longtime Film Reporter For NPRTom Colehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqx-oIgvUiA Pianist Ralph Sharon, the longtime accompanist for Tony Bennett, died March 31 at age 91. In the audio link above, Tom Cole has a brief report for NPR's Morning Edition, and below, Walter Ray Watson filed this remembrance for NPR Music.Pianist Ralph Sharon is often remembered as the guy who accidentally introduced Tony Bennett to his signature song, "I Left My Heart In San Francisco."While preparing for a tour, he opened up a shirt drawer and found a stash of sheet music he had forgotten about. Knowing their itinerary was destined for San Francisco, he brought a certain song to Bennett, and the two rehearsed it while in Hot Springs, Ark. Countless times, Sharon retold the story that a bartender said to them both, "If you make a record of that, I'll buy it."Of course, there's more to Ralph Sharon than an unexpected hit: He was Bennett's accompanist and musical director for more than 40 years, encouraging the singer toward the style he's bestRemembering Ralph Sharon, Tony Bennett's Pianisthttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/remembering-ralph-sharon-who-introduced-tony-bennett-jazz
77463 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgThu, 09 Apr 2015 08:25:00 +0000Remembering Ralph Sharon, Tony Bennett's PianistTom Colehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeqzr5wbFug Guitarist and composer John Renbourn co-founded the group Pentangle and went on to become revered by guitarists around the world. Renbourn was found dead of an apparent heart attack at his home in Scotland on Thursday, after failing to show up for a concert. He was 70 years old.Renbourn was born in London at the end of World War II. He used to joke that the only place to hide during air raids was under his mom's piano. He joked a lot, as he did with the BBC earlier this month about his music education:"I went to a school that specialized in boxing and cross-country running," Renbourn said, "and one day a new teacher came to the school and the headmaster said, 'This teacher can teach music. But should anyone want to take music, they will have to forgo cross-country running and boxing.' So my hand shot up and I became a music student."That teacher introduced him to medieval and Renaissance music, which he went on to arrange for acoustic guitarInfluential Guitarist John Renbourn, Co-Founder Of Pentagle, Dieshttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/influential-guitarist-john-renbourn-dies-70
76811 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgSat, 28 Mar 2015 12:54:00 +0000Influential Guitarist John Renbourn, Co-Founder Of Pentagle, DiesTom ColeJim Hall was a guitar god, but not in the sense that he could blaze through a zillion notes a minute. He was worshipped by guitarists around the world, but you'd never know it from talking to him."I don't really have all that much technique anyway, so I try to the best with what I have you know," he said to me earlier this year.The best he had influenced half a century of jazz musicians, earned him the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master honor and widely designated him as one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time. It was also enough to be named one of the 25 guitarists "who shook the world," along with Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen, according to Guitar Player magazine in 1992.Jim Hall died in his sleep early Tuesday morning, according to an announcement from his daughter, Devra Hall Levy. His death came less than a week after celebrating his 83rd birthday.Hall didn't start with much. He and his brother were raised by a single mother in public housing in Cleveland. YetRemembering Jim Hall, A Different Sort Of Guitar Godhttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/remembering-jim-hall-different-sort-guitar-god
50969 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgWed, 11 Dec 2013 10:07:00 +0000Remembering Jim Hall, A Different Sort Of Guitar GodTom Colehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyUFxp1zDRk Imagine that all of your favorite music — from Wynton Marsalis to Kanye West — was released by the same record label. Well, if you were African-American back in the 1920s, odds are that was the case. What makes the story even more interesting is that this record label was launched by a company that made chairs. Its name was Paramount Records and its roster eventually included Ma Rainey, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Ethel Waters, Blind Lemon Jefferson — most of the top African-American blues and jazz performers of the day. Despite that firepower, the label folded after just 15 years in business. Now, a new reissue project tries to recapture some of the Paramount magic.Novelist and teacher Scott Blackwood wrote a book about Paramount that's included in the reissue package. This is a portion of it:"1917. A young black man on a train moving up the Illinois Central Line to Chicago. Outside the window, a great emptinessParamount Records: The Label Inadvertently Crucial To The Blueshttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/paramount-records-label-inadvertently-crucial-blues
48920 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgSat, 02 Nov 2013 09:33:00 +0000Paramount Records: The Label Inadvertently Crucial To The BluesTom Colehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIuIIqbyEIU The man who wrote the surf guitar anthem "Walk, Don't Run" has died. Guitarist Johnny Smith died Tuesday night at his Colorado home of natural causes. He would have been 91 years old on June 25.Smith's tune was a Top 10 hit for The Ventures — twice. The group's 1960 recording hit No. 2. They re-recorded it in '64 and that version got up to No. 8 — at that time, the first occurrence of the same song by the same group cracking the Top 10 twice. The Ventures never heard the songwriter's '54 recording of "Walk, Don't Run." Instead, they took their version from a '57 Chet Atkins record. Chet, being the Southern gentleman that he was, asked Smith's permission after one of Smith's shows at the celebrated jazz venue Birdland in New York City. Smith readily agreed but Atkins insisted the composer hear his arrangement of it. So he played it on Smith's guitar in his dressing room.Smith was born in Alabama and grew up in Maine. After WWII, he landed a jobJohnny Smith, Revered Guitar Player, Has Diedhttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/johnny-smith-revered-guitar-player-has-died
40905 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgThu, 13 Jun 2013 21:11:00 +0000Johnny Smith, Revered Guitar Player, Has DiedTom Colehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf1B9ktRCkg Richie Havens once told NPR that he believed all music is folk music. Listen to Havens speak about Woodstock, Greenwich Village and why he loved performing in Neda Ulaby's remembrance, broadcast on Morning Edition, at the audio link on this page.Richie Havens, a Brooklyn-born singer who sang gospel as a teenager, began playing folk music in Greenwich Village clubs in the 1960s and was the opening act at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in 1969, died Monday of a heart attack at his home in Jersey City, N.J., according to his agent. He was 72 years old.Havens had a long career as a musician, but if he had done nothing else, his performance at Woodstock would secure his place in American music history. Havens was the first performer to walk onto the stage at the festival; he sat on a stool and performed for nearly two hours — including an improvisation that incorporated the spiritual "Motherless Child," later called "Freedom." It became a highlightRichie Havens, Folk Singer Who Opened Woodstock, Has Diedhttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/richie-havens-folk-singer-who-opened-woodstock-has-died
37812 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgMon, 22 Apr 2013 23:30:00 +0000Richie Havens, Folk Singer Who Opened Woodstock, Has DiedTom ColeWe've been able to record sound for over 125 years, but many of the recordings that have been made in that time are in terrible shape. Many more, even recordings made in the past 10 years, are in danger because rapid technological changes have rendered their software obsolete. So Wednesday, the Library of Congress unveiled a plan to help preserve this country's audio archives.At the Library of Congress' Packard campus in Culpeper, Va., Gene Deanna — the head of the Recorded Sound Section — stood in a large room with several racks of equipment and gestured toward a set of blue boxes that are used to preserve video."Those are tape robots, and they're loaded with video cassette decks," he said. "They're able to operate independently of staff once they're set and loaded. They have transformed the preservation of video, mostly our television heritage. And it's something that recorded sound doesn't have."The problem with audio is that recorded sound doesn't have a standardized format.Saving The Sounds Of Americahttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/saving-sounds-america
34122 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgWed, 13 Feb 2013 22:23:00 +0000Saving The Sounds Of AmericaTom ColeTranscript SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Elliott Carter died this week, a month shy of his 104th birthday. He had a huge influence on modern classical music. So in 2008, when Elliott Carter was celebrating his centennial, NPR's Tom Cole went to New York City to interview him. And he has this remembrance of what it was like to meet the storied composer.TOM COLE, BYLINE: I was terrified. I mean, this was a man who had lived history; a composer who'd won two Pulitzer Prizes, for his Second and Third String Quartets.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)COLE: A man whose cello sonata is considered one of the great works for that instrument.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)COLE: Elliott Carter composed in his West 12th Street apartment. When my engineer and I arrived, our first task was to figure out how to turn off the steam radiator hissing in his living room - a sonic intrusion he was well aware of, despite his failing hearing.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)ELLIOTT CARTER: Oh, that's a problem. That'll give you some backgroundWhat A Life: The Day I Met Elliott Carterhttp://publicradiotulsa.org/post/what-life-day-i-met-elliott-carter
29331 as http://publicradiotulsa.orgSat, 10 Nov 2012 12:33:00 +0000What A Life: The Day I Met Elliott Carter